My native language is Portuguese (Brazil), and I've been noticing in the past few weeks that I may not know how to speak "why" correctly. I've always pronounced it as "uai", but suddenly in every TV Show and movie I'm listening it as "huai" or something like "uhuai" (I know that "uai" is not pretty accurate as an example, but I've mentioned Portuguese and it's the closest way of showing it).
So, which one is correct?
I've checked on wiktionary, and I've discovered that I'm not crazy when I've actually listened to both versions. "huai" in the audio of "in accents without the "wine-whine" merger", and "uai" in the audio of "in accents with the "wine-whine" merger".
Do you native English speakers even care about, or notice it?
Best Answer
As you've pointed out, you're not crazy and both pronunciations you've heard for the word why are correct.
Some speakers may use /hw/ for ⟨wh⟩, and although the wine/whine merger is complete in many English speaking countries, the merger is not found in other ones. As it happens in all languages, accents are changing all the time, be it due to migration from/to rural and urban areas or other cultural aspects.
Merriam-Webster dictionary indicates both pronunciation forms for the word why, please see. - Why adverb
\ˈhwī,ˈwī\or /ˈwaɪ/.I'm also a Portuguese native speaker and I usually pronounce the word Why as
/ˈwaɪ/with the merger. While meeting with Americans from all over the US, as also English native speakers from all over the world, I could notice the /hw/ accent for ⟨wh⟩ on a few speakers pronunciation. They usually say the accent is still there in their home countries and that it is clearly perceived.In the Southeastern US that seems to be more evident, see the map.